Rejoice and Be Gentle

What does rejoicing mean to you? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Is it something you do every day? Are you gentle? Or are you rash, excitable, or over bearing? Do you know what it means to be gentle? Do you know that God is near?

We typically think of rejoicing as being happy about something. And honestly, that is a good way to think of it. Unfortunately, we get caught up in the day-to-day happenings and forget we have a reason to rejoice every day. How would our days go if we were to rejoice each morning when we wake up?

If we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, if we have given our lives to Him, we have reason for rejoicing. We have a promise of spending eternity with Him. That is something to be joyful about. It is something we can look forward to every day. We also have the promise that He will never leave us. He is always with us. Therefore, we can rejoice that He is with as we go through our day no matter what happens.

What does it mean to be gentle? The word translated as gentleness in today’s passage can also be translated as considerate. Being considerate of others can be a challenge sometimes. Yet, we want others to be considerate of us. Being considerate takes a little effort. Rather immediately jumping to conclusions or being judgmental of others, we need to take time to think about why they did something we disapprove. Looking at it from every angle we can think of will help us be considerate toward others. We may still disapprove, but we can do so with a gentle and understanding spirit. We can explain why their reasoning was faulty.

Finally, we must remember Jesus is always with us. That means He is with us when we rejoice and when we are sad. He is with us when we are considerate and when we are being judgmental. He is with us when we wake up, giving us reason to start our day rejoicing.

I pray we all rejoice in the Lord each morning when we wake up. I pray we are considerate of others, just as we want them to be considerate of us. I pray each one of us remember Jesus is always with us. Rejoice every day. Be considerate of others. Know that Jesus is always with you.

Philippians 4:4-5 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

Balance of Life

How is your praising? Do you sing praises to God on a daily basis? Or do you mope around depressed? Do you give God the glory for your accomplishments? Or do you snag all the honor for yourself? Do you return God’s love? Or do you forget he loves you?

In all our busyness, we often forget about God. We are on the go, talking to people, performing tasks, going places, rarely having any quiet time. Often, we are going and doing to obtain praise from others or to feel accepted by others. We are seeking to fill a void in our lives.

Being as busy as we are is not healthy. Our health is like a three-legged stool. One leg is our physical health. We may attempt to take care of ourselves physically by eating healthy and exercising. The second leg is our mental health. We have seen a rise in awareness of mental health. We are seeing mental illnesses that used to be a reason to put someone into an asylum now being treated in better ways.

The third leg is spiritual health. Unfortunately, this is where we fall short. Attendance in our churches is in decline. There are fewer people attending worship services in our country now than there has been in decades. Without the third leg of the stool, the stool cannot stand. If we are not healthy in all three areas, our lives are out of whack.

Those of us who are Christian, who attend worship services regularly, who read and study our Bibles need to be the example and the encouragers to others to bring their lives into balance. We need to spread the gospel of Jesus. We need to praise God for his love for us. We need to stand firm in our faith.

I pray we all seek balance in all three areas of our lives. I pray we praise God for his love and care for us. I pray each one of us will be the example and encourager to others to attend to spiritual health. Praise God. Know that he loves you. Be the example. Encourage others. Seek balance in your life.

Psalm 106:1

Praise the Lord! 

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; 

for his steadfast love endures forever.

Change God’s Mind

Yesterday, we saw the Israelites disobey God by creating a golden calf to worship as their idol while Moses was on the mountain receiving the law from God. God was angry at them for choosing to worship an idol rather than him. He was ready to destroy them all.

Have you wondered what God thinks of our collective behavior? Does he look at our community or nation and shake his head in disgust? Who will stand before God and ask him to change his mind? Will you? Or will you depend on someone else to do so?

It may sound like an exaggeration. Surely God is not going to destroy us. After all, he is the God of love, grace, and mercy. Yes, he is. But he is also Holy God who is just. Yet, as Moses did, we can ask God to change his mind. That may sound odd to us, especially if we remember we have been told that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

God always has the same character. He is holy and righteous. His plan has been put in motion and will be accomplished. Yet, we can implore God to change his mind. If by changing his mind he can continue with fulfilling his plan, he may change his mind. Just like Moses, we must ask with a desire to serve God and with his plan in mind.

How can we know God’s plan? His basic plan is to bring people into his kingdom through his Son, Jesus Christ. When we pray that God move in our community to open hearts and minds to the message of the gospel, we are praying within his plan. When our desire to see our community to be worshipers of God, our heart is in alignment with God’s.

I pray we all pray in God’s will. I pray we ask God to move throughout our community to open hearts and minds. I pray each one of us will spread the good news of Jesus Christ to others. Pray in God’s will. Pray for God’s plan to be executed. Ask God to move in our community. Spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Exodus 32:11a, 14 But Moses implored the Lord his God, …And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Give Up Your Idols

Do you consider yourself an idol worshiper? Do you put trophies you have won on shelves in a prominent place? Do you buy representations of things you like and set them on your mantle? Do you ask others to join you or bring you things to worship?

We don’t consciously think about idol worship today. If we do, we think of Greek god statues or Buddha statues or maybe even Roman god statues. We don’t think of modern objects as idols. Our perspective is one of indifference or deferential or perhaps downright denial.

Though we may not offer animal sacrifices to statues as they did in the ancient world, we still have our idols. They fly under our radar because we have become accustomed to them being part of our everyday lives. Our sacrifice is the money and time we spend on them. They become our priority rather than God. We invest more of our time in them than we do with God. We spend more money on them than we give to God’s mission.

The Israelites did the same when they were assumed something had happened to Moses. They asked Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship. They donated golden rings, earrings, and necklaces to make it. Then they offered sacrifices to it. In other words, they gave more to create the idol and made it a higher priority, putting it above God.

We are told that God is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14). He will not share nor tolerate us worshiping someone or something more than him. He desires our wholehearted worship. He loves us and desires our love in return. He stands ready to reward us, but only if we commit to worshiping him.

I pray we all commit to worshiping God. I pray we make God our top priority. I pray each one of us will give up our current day idols to worship only God with our whole heart. Give up your idols. Make God your priority. Worship him with your whole heart. Love God as he loves you.

Exodus 32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Fruit of the Kingdom

How fruitful are you? Do you consider yourself a diligent worker? Does your work to produce good fruit? Or do you wait for someone else to do it? Do you realize God is expecting you to produce fruit?

We all have worked or currently work for a living. We know our bosses expect us to do good work. Most of us take pride in doing a good job. We also know that if we didn’t, we probably won’t keep that job for long. Slackers are not well liked nor retained in workplaces.

God expects the same. Jesus tells His Jewish audience that God will remove the kingdom from them because they are not producing good fruit. His warning applies to us today.

What is good fruit? Bringing others into the kingdom of God. Completing the good works God has set aside for us (Ephesians 2:10). We are to boldly go about the work God has put before us, for we do not have a spirit of timidity but of power (2 Timothy 1:7).

When we succumb to fear, we are allowing Satan to win, rather than relying on God. We are to follow God’s instructions and carry out the mission he has given us. If we do not know what he wants us to do, we are to pray, asking God to reveal his will to us.

Jesus clearly states that God has expectations of us. His expectations apply to us as individuals and as the church. We are to produce fruits of the kingdom.

I pray we all seek to produce good fruit. I pray we seek to carry out God’s will for us. I pray each one of us will live in the power of Christ rather than the fear Satan desires of us. Seek God’s will. Execute God’s will. Produce good fruit. Follow God’s instructions. Bring others to Christ.

Matthew 21:43 “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”

Prize of Heaven

What are your goals in life? Do you have goals? Are you pursuing a specific goal right now? Have you set interim goals to work your way to your ultimate goal? Are you progressing toward your goal? Do you have a goal to be more like Jesus Christ?

Often our goals in life are of this world. We seek a partner to spend our life with. We work hard to get promoted in our jobs. We desire to live in a good neighborhood with good schools. We try to eat healthy and exercise. We do our best to raise our children to be good citizens.

All of those goals are good. But are we pursuing the best goal? The best goal we can pursue is to be like Jesus Christ and seek the prize of heaven. There are incremental steps we can pursue as we pursue the ultimate goal. To be like Christ, we can seek to clean up the life we live.

Cleaning up the life we live is not easy. In fact, it is impossible without completely turning our life over to Christ. We must relinquish our control and allow Him to take control. We may have heard songs that state this, yet words are cheap, easily stated, and much harder to put into action. We like to have control. Yet, our control is false, an illusion. In order to fully turn over our lives to Christ, we must remove our blinders and see that God is the only one in control.

As we have steppingstones toward an earthly goal, we need to set for ourselves steppingstones to become like Jesus. The first and most important one is to begin relinquishing control and submitting to God’s control. The next steppingstone is to open our eyes and see as God sees. Only by doing this will we see the lies of this world.

I pray we all pursue the goal of being more like Jesus. I pray we open our eyes to see the world as God sees it. I pray each one of us will begin relinquishing control by realizing God is in control. Set your goals. Seek to be more like Jesus. Open your eyes. See as God sees. Allow God to be in control of your life.

Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Attitude of Christ

Have you thought you had a right to brag about your accomplishments? Have you thought your pedigree allowed you to think more highly of yourself? Did you find out later you really had no reason to think so highly of yourself? Have you given up putting yourself on a pedestal?

Some of us like to put ourselves on a pedestal. We like to believe we are better than others. Our perception may be that we have made better decisions or were born into a better family or we have accomplished more than others. However, that is not how we should view ourselves.

Even if we have been born into a better situation, had better education, and made good decisions, we should not think of ourselves as better than others. The Apostle Paul had all the credentials and accomplishments he could have had. His education was equivalent to an Ivy League education today. Yet, he realized it meant nothing after his encounter with Christ.

Paul came to understand the most important thing to ever happen to him was knowing Jesus. He realized what he thought he knew was not the truth of God. He discovered the true meaning of life. He understood there was nothing on this earth to compare with heaven. Paul, being a man of high status, gave it all up to follow Jesus and carry out His will.

We are to do the same. But let’s not make the mistake some have. Giving it all up does not mean we should literally throw away our education or give up our jobs. No, it means our attitudes are to change. We are to realize all we have has been given to us by God and give him the credit. We are to use what we have been given for his glory, not ours.

I pray we all give up thinking highly of ourselves. I pray we take on the attitude of a humble servant. I pray each one of us will use our gifts and talents to bring glory to God. Do not think highly of yourself. Have a humble attitude. Know that God has given you all you have. Seek to bring glory to God.

Philippians 3:7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.

See God’s Glory

How attentive are you to your surroundings? Do you use your peripheral vision for awareness? Do you listen for those small sounds that occur all around you? Have you been trained to be aware? Have you trained yourself to be aware? Have you thought about what you are missing?

As I have observed people over the years, I have discovered that many are not aware of their surroundings. It only requires a little people watching in a department store to notice their unawareness. They are wrapped up in their own little world, oblivious to others.

Unfortunately, it is this unawareness that puts us in danger at times. Being unaware can be the cause of accidents, hence the laws against texting and driving. It can allow someone to pick our pockets or purses, especially when we are in a large crowd. In worst case scenarios, it can allow us to be abducted.

But there is another, positive reason to be aware. When we observe our surroundings, we notice the glory of God. How? We see and hear his creation declaring his glory. We notice the squirrel sitting on its haunches and cracking open an acorn. We notice unique formations of the clouds. We hear the birds singing. We see his glory in the flower’s blooms and the uniqueness of snowflakes. We hear and feel the rumbling of thunder.

God’s glory is on display every day. The Psalmist encourages us to be attentive to see and hear God’s creation declare his glory. As we train ourselves to be aware, we gain a new appreciation for and a new sense of awe of God. We become amazed at his handiwork. Our days become more enjoyable, and we become more enlightened.

I pray we all train ourselves to be more aware. I pray we see and hear God’s creation reveal his glory. I pray each one of us will be more enlightened and in awe, giving God the glory he deserves. Be aware. Use your peripheral vision. Listen to what is going on around you. See God’s glory. Be in awe. Give him the glory.

Psalm 19:1-4a

The heavens are telling the glory of God;

and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. 

Day to day pours forth speech, 

and night to night declares knowledge. 

There is no speech, nor are there words; 

their voice is not heard; 

yet their voice goes out through all the earth, 

and their words to the end of the world.

Honor the Sabbath

Are you on the run all the time? Does every day seem to be a hustle and bustle day? Do you feel constantly tired and worn down? Does your life seem to be out of control, chaotic, and very busy? Have you taken time to rest?

Our modern American culture is one of busyness. We are always on the go. We are always busy doing something. If we have a spare minute, we fill with one thing or another. Making time to rest, truly rest in quiet solace allowing ourselves to unwind is nearly unheard of.

Many have believed the lie that not working a job for a couple days per week means we are resting. Not so. Just because we are not working a job does not mean we are resting. Often, we are busier on our days off than the days we work. We fill our days off with family events, sporting events, sightseeing, yard work, or you fill in the blank. When we are sitting at home in the evenings, we fill the couple of hours we have after dinner with watching the television, researching on our computers, or playing on our phones. Rest is not occurring.

God told the Israelites and tells us today to take one day of each week to rest. For the Israelites, it was the seventh day, Saturday, that was a sabbath day. They were to rest. They were to not only not work their fields or open their shops, but they were to stay home and rest. It was to be a day to allow both the body and mind to relax and recuperate from six days of toiling.

God knows better than we do what we need. He knows we need a day of rest. We need to not only rest our physical bodies, but we also need to rest our minds. We need renewal of mind and spirit as much as we need renewal of energy. In our Christian tradition, the sabbath has become Sunday. If we put God’s instruction into action, we will not only find rest but will be more productive the other six days of the week.

I pray we all choose to follow God’s instruction. I pray we decide to make time for true rest. I pray each one of us seek renewal of spirit through worship and renewal of mind by setting down our gadgets. Follow God’s instruction. Make time to rest. Renew your body, mind, and spirit. Set aside your electronic gadgets.

Exodus 20:8-9 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

God’s Name

What stock do you put into a name? Do you like your own name? If you could choose your own name, what name would you choose? Do you associate names to certain types of people? How do you treat the name of God? Do you treat it with respect and reverence?

Though we do not associate names with meanings much anymore, for many centuries names had meanings. Likely, if you take time to look, you will find a meaning for your name. However, we now choose names for our children because we like them, not because of their meaning.

There is one name we should not take lightly, that is the name of God. Unfortunately, far too many people do, including some Christians. We have likely been told as children and adults to not take the Lord’s name in vain. But that does not fully cover it. Sure, we should not use God’s name as curse word. But God gave further instruction.

God says we are not to misuse his name. That can mean slandering it, using it in funny or expletive statements, or merely making light of it. Perhaps this is why the Israelites refused to even speak God’s name. Not only that, but they would only allude to his name in reverent and respectful ways.

I fear we have lost the reverence required of God’s name. We speak God’s name, often without thinking, in irreverent and flippant manner. We fail to think of an almighty God when we speak his name. This failure speaks volumes of what we think of God himself. When we respect someone, we won’t misuse their name. The same goes for misusing God’s name.

I pray we think of God’s awesomeness before speaking his name. I pray we remind ourselves daily of who God is. I pray each one of us decide to treat God’s name with respect and reverence. Think before you speak. Honor God’s name. Be respectful of God’s name. Be reverent with God’s name.

Exodus 20:7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.